Urgent warning as mum suffers horrific injuries after being bitten by UK’s most venomous spider
A MUM has warned Brits to get urgent medical attention if they're bitten by the UK's most venomous spider - after she was rushed to hospital with an infected wound.
Delyth Hughes felt something crawling on her leg as she sat beside her dad in his tractor on the family farm in Flintshire, Wales.
But she didn't realise she'd been bitten by what she suspects was a false widow spider until hours later, when she felt nauseous and dizzy and spotted two tiny puncture wounds.
In the days that followed, she lost sensation in the leg and began to suffer relentless pins and needles.
And worse was to follow as the bite became bruised and swollen as it filled with pus.
The 29-year-old, who has two children, was urged to seek medical help by friends and family - and told she's "glad" she did.
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Delyth, who lives in Denbighshire, said: "It might have ended with a different story for me if the poison had spread through my body.”
Despite feeling no bite sensation, or spotting a spider, her leg began to get "really painful" after the visit to the farm.
"It was throbbing badly and I began feeling nauseous. I had a terrible headache and I was suffering from dizzy spells," she said.
She then found two tiny puncture wounds and bruising.
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Over the following days, she began bathing her leg, but said it was "still numb".
Five days later, she visited the hospital - where doctors lanced and drained the wound. She was also prescribed antibiotics.
“The staff told me I was lucky I had come in when I did as the poison was still in my blood,” she said.
“I was told to leave it for a couple of days and, if it didn’t improve, I would need to go on IV antibiotics.”
Medics also told her she's not the only one to have suffered a painful bite.
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“The hospital staff told me they’d seen a few people recently with the same symptoms," she said.
"They suspected they were all caused by spider bites - probably from a false widow.”
Delyth's recovery took 12 weeks - and she said: "My advice to anyone who is bitten is to go and get it checked out.
“Had it not been for my friends, I might have left it until it was too late.”
False widow spiders can give a nasty bite, although they're usually no worse than a wasp sting.
Docs told me I was lucky I had come in when I did as the poison was still in my blood
Some victims, however, will suffer post-bite infections, which can lead to a lengthy recovery period.
According to experts, symptoms can include pain, swelling, nausea, tremors and altered blood pressure.
Earlier this week, Joe Hildebrandt, of Conwy, told of how his hand began swelling before his eyes after he felt a spider bite while gardening.
Nine schools were forced to shut in London after infestations of the awful arachnids in 2018, and Britain was hit with another wave of false widow attacks in 2019.
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Former Wrexham AFC striker James Gray was rushed to hospital after a false widow bite in 2016.
And father Andy Perry lost his leg - and nearly his life - after a bite from one of the spiders in 2018.
